You needn't sound so condescending.
I decided to use wood dowels for hurry-up reasons and at some point "something" happened to break a wheel off the axle. I had cemented the wheels on the axles with superglue.
It would take off and flip over when fired. Sometimes it landed on the wheels, sometimes on the cannon itself, which got dinged up on landing, sometimes on its side. All this depending on the elevation of the muzzle, loading, and apparently random factors --it was fired in a gravel driveway, not on a smooth surface. On about the fourth shot the axle had cracked. I don't know if this occured on firing or on landing.
The wheels were made by using a hole saw. There is no ring on the cascabel for machining reasons. I was going to weld or silver-solder one on, but never got around to it.
Half inch bore, 4 1/8" deep --it's actually more of a carronade than a cannon. The trunnions were silver-soldered into shallow wringing-fit holes in the sides. I'd like at some point to get some more authentic-looking fasteners for the trunnion caps instead of straight-shank screws. Those screws are just ugly, but nothing has jumped out at me so far as substitutes.
The cannon has been cleaned up and now displays itself on my stereo. With two other little cannons in my "battery."
Another view before I stuck new axles on it. At the time of the photograph, I had misplaced the wheels. (I was just testing out the closeuptivity of the camera and needed a subject. Black velvet background.) The .44 lead balls are strictly for show. I have never fired, and will never fire, this thing with any sort of a projectile.
Terry, 230RN
